Bronx, N.Y. – (March 25, 2022) – It had been a spell since Fordham and Monmouth last locked up on the baseball diamond. It was 1999 and Fordham's Dan Colonna had the walk-off double to score Ian Denson in an 11-10 win. Fast forward 23 years and history repeated itself, as Ram freshman
Cian Sahler roped a two-run walk-off single to cap off a roller coaster 10-9 win over the Monmouth Hawks on Friday at Houlihan Park.
Fordham (4-15) was able to sneak the first lead of the game off Monmouth starting pitcher Trey Dombroski in the second, as
Richard Grund singled with one out, stole second, and scored on an error.
Monmouth quickly answered with a two-run home run off the bat of Dixon Black, his fourth of the season.
The Rams regained a 4-2 lead in the bottom of the fourth on an RBI-single by Grund, which was followed by a two-run home run to right center by
Zach Selinger, his second of the year.
The lead once again did not last long, as the Hawks responded with a three-run home run by James Armstead, his sixth of the season, as well as a run on a balk by Fordham pitcher
Brooks Ey to grab a 6-4 lead.
Fordham rallied to tie the game at six in the bottom of the sixth, picking up runs on an infield single by Selinger as well as on a Monmouth error.
The score stayed tied until the eighth, when Monmouth got back-to-back RBI-singles by pinch-hitter Nick Campana and Casey Caufield to take an 8-6 lead.
Zach Selinger
The Rams responded with a big pinch-hit of their own to tie the game at eight. With one out,
Cian Sahler singled and
Zach Selinger was hit by a pitch to put two runners on. After a passed ball, pinch-hitter
Casey Brown connected on a two-run single down the left field line to tie the game at eight.
The seesaw affair continued in the ninth, when Harmstead hit his second home run of the game, a solo shot to right, to put Monmouth back on top, 9-8.
Then in the bottom of the ninth, Fordham had a final rally with one out, as
Jack Harnisch,
Andy Semo, and
Sebastian Mexico all walked to load the bases. Sahler then came through with a two-run single to right for the walk-off 10-9 win.
For Fordham,
Ben Kovel (2-1) got the win in relief, allowing one run over 1.2 innings of work. Ey went the first six innings, allowing five earned runs and tied a season-high with seven strikeouts.
Trey Maeker had the remaining 1.1 innings, giving up two runs on four hits.
At the plate, Selinger was 2-for-3 with a home run, two runs scored, and three RBI, while Sahler was 2-for-2 with two RBI and a run scored. Grund was also 2-for-2 in the game with three runs scored and an RBI with Semo going 2-for-4 with three runs scored.
Game two of this series is set for 1:00 PM on Saturday.
